


The Niceness Feud

by thefirstneonphoenix



Category: Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, M/M, i'm not really sure tbh, outside perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29361267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefirstneonphoenix/pseuds/thefirstneonphoenix
Summary: Their new neighbors were freakishly nice, but Aysha refused to be upstaged.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Joseph Wilson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	The Niceness Feud

Aysha prided herself on her ability to exist above the fray by avoiding gossip and generally being respectful of people’s privacy. Staying away from the rumor mill had gotten her through high school relatively unscathed, and having grown up in a place like Gotham, she knew better than to listen to things that didn’t concern her. Regardless, their new neighbors were… strange, to say the least.

After college, she and Madison had decided they wanted to live a little closer to home, but a few years away from Gotham had obliterated any love they might have retained for it. Living in another city with fresh air and clear skies, where they weren’t constantly under threat from the rogue of the week, was refreshing. 

Bludhaven wasn’t the nicest city, but it’s crime rates had lessened dramatically since Nightwing moved in, and any crime still running rampant had less of Gotham crime’s x-factor. Aysha was no longer worried about her taps being poisoned or the necessity of carrying a gas mask. That wasn’t to say the city wasn’t terribly corrupt, far from it in fact. There was only so much Nightwing could do as one man, and just because he put away the worst of the worst didn’t mean the city was lacking in regular, everyday sort of jerks.

Madison had selected the apartment they lived in, while Aysha was busy packing their stuff for the move across states. She thought nothing of it when they came back and commented on how nice their new neighbors would be. She should have paid more attention to it, she quickly realized, after less than a month of living there.

Their neighbors were strange, that was for sure. One of them was a painter, and even though he apparently spent quite a bit of time working from home, Aysha had yet to actually talk to him. The other had introduced himself the day after they moved in, which wasn’t that odd in and of itself, except it was at five in the morning.

Later that day, he stopped by again to apologize for showing up so early. Apparently he somehow missed the time and thought it was an appropriate hour to visit his new neighbors. He even brought them a box of muffins that his partner made, both to welcome them and to demonstrate the genuine nature of his apology.

They were absurdly good muffins. Madison immediately declared that they were going to befriend their new neighbors, if only for the muffins.

A little over a week after that, the building’s power was cut. Mr Nice Neighbor Who Wakes People Up At Five (His name was Dick but Aysha thought her name was more accurate), came over to make sure they were ok. He brought some blankets and candles, along with a flashlight. On top of that, he even loaned them a portable stove, because he was apparently the kind of guy to have two of those lying around.

Or maybe his partner was. They had yet to learn much more about him, and although Mr Nice Neighbor seemed perfectly content to talk about him for hours, he also seemed to be some kind of master manipulator when it came to conversations who never shared more than necessary, while remaining polite and friendly.

Aysha realized it was time to strike back if they ever wanted to have a leg to stand on. She broke out her grandmother’s scone recipe and brought some over, claiming she had gotten the proportions wrong and baked too many.

A few days after that she and Madison received two window boxes, because, “It was cheaper to buy them in bulk like this, but we didn’t need so many.” Madison argued they were just being nice, but Aysha knew a challenge when she saw one.

She began to familiarize herself with the neighbor’s schedule, listening for when their door opened and closed. She learned that they had a lot of friends who dropped by, which fit with her previous evaluation of them being freakishly nice, and that they kept strange hours, which fit with the first meeting having been at five am by mistake.

Eventually, she had it figured out enough that she was able to have coffee prepared for when Mr Nice left (to go volunteer at the community center, because the niceness never actually ended, it turned out). He seemed surprisingly off-put at the fact that she knew his schedule so well, and Aysha could admit that it  _ was _ more than a little bit stalkery.

Nevertheless, he showed up a day later to gift them with a potted plant, because his friend had supposedly bought one before subsequently realizing they were allergic, and he had noticed Madison’s collection.

Aysha figured that there had to be something truly nefarious hiding behind his friendliness, and to uncover it, she’d need to worm her way into his life.

It was going well for a while. A few weeks of trading niceties back and forth and she discovered that he was also from Gotham, and it seemed they even had overlapping circles of old friends from high school. The plan started falling apart when Madison befriended the neighbor’s husband.

As it turned out, both Madison and their neighbor had shows going at the same gallery that month, and had run into each other while setting up for first Friday. It turned out he was mute and used ASL, which Madison had taken in college (They wasted no time in rubbing it in Aysha’s face that it had, in fact, been useful).

Aysha was snapped out of her reverie by Madison’s next revelation:

“So anyways, he invited us over for dinner next week. I figured you’d want to bring a dessert or something, to continue your niceness feud with his husband.”

Well, now Aysha had to break out grandma’s cookbook  _ again _ . And find a good wine, because she just _ knew  _ something would be done to upstage her, and she was  _ not _ going to let that happen.


End file.
